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Feb. 27, 2014, 12:43 PM GMT

Five women made history Wednesday as they took their seats at a meeting of NATO defense ministers.

Italy's Roberta Pinotti, who was sworn in Saturday as her country's first female defense minister, joined her counterparts from Albania, the Netherlands, Germany and Norway at the organization's headquarters in Brussels.

A NATO official told The Associated Press the five constituted the largest number of women defense ministers to serve at one time since the 28-nation alliance was founded in 1949.